Co-authored by Jessica Lee

Though Washington is fixated this month on the so-called "fiscal cliff," that manufactured face-off is a bit of a side-show. Far more disturbing is a deeper array of fundamental structural problems of federal governance, of which "Taxmageddon" is just a surface manifestation.

These are tough times for the dream of clean energy and green jobs. Washington is again gridlocked and failing to act on clean energy economic development. Deficit politics and partisanship are pervasive and meanwhile the imperfect framework of federal financial and tax incentives made available through the 2009 stimulus law...

A rough period for supporters of U.S "cleantech" industries and policy supports just got rougher with the announced impending bankruptcy of Solyndra Inc., a California maker of solar modules that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Inevitably, tough new...

So how are we doing on the "green jobs" promise?

Will the so-called "clean" or "green" economy really create "countless new jobs for our people," as President Obama promised in his State of the Union Address this year?

The question has always been hard to parse, and therefore controversial. However,...

It's pretty common knowledge by now that many states are drowning in red ink. Most notably, the weak economy has created operating gaps ranging from the hundreds of millions of dollars in Arizona to the tens of billions in California, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Deep cuts in public spending have...